The gluten contained in wheat products can cause or contribute to digestive disorders and joint problems. A wheat-free diet may be just what you need to relieve your uncomfortable symptoms. Need another reason to consider going wheatless? Kicking this food out of your eating plan can also help you drop those unwanted pounds (I thought that might get your attention).
A wheat-free diet is often confused with a gluten-free diet. Although wheat products contain gluten, these two protocols aren’t necessarily the same thing. When you’re on a wheat-free diet, you simply eliminate all foods that contain wheat. When you follow a gluten-free diet, you not only give up wheat, you also eliminate barley and rye, and depending on why you’re follow a gluten-free diet, you may have to use extreme caution to be sure never to ingest any.
Assuming no allergies involved, I want to address how a wheat-free diet can make anyone feel better and help you achieve your ideal weight.
Digestive Problems and Wheat
When you eat wheat, it can clog up the intestines and make digestion difficult. Signs of this range from slightly nagging discomfort to extreme distress (constipation one minute, diarrhea the next), and anywhere along this scale is evidence that the bowels are irritated.
Symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, gas, changes in bowel movements and cramping. They vary from person to person, and they can come and go. Gluten intolerance has been shown to produce or pronounce symptoms. Since gluten is found in wheat, a wheat-free diet can promote a healthy digestive tract by allowing food to flow through easier.
Go Wheatless and Drop a Few Pounds
Wheat is found in bread, pasta, baked goods, cereal, ice cream, gravies and most processed foods. These types of foods have no nutritional value and they make it hard for you to lose weight. On top of the empty calories you get when you load up on processed wheat products, you ingest all kinds of unhealthy chemical additives.
When you boot wheat out of your diet, you’re left with healthier options like fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, beans, nuts, and legumes. These foods are much more nutrient-dense than processed foods. When you opt for healthier foods, you automatically reduce your caloric intake, so you have an easier time slimming down.
Lose the Wheat to Reduce Joint Pain
Gluten can hinder your body’s natural defenses against joint pain caused by osteoporosis or osteoarthritis. If you have either of these conditions, a wheat-free diet may help reduce discomfort. Also, when you suffer from joint conditions, being overweight will amplify the pain. The weight loss you experience from a wheat-free diet will take some of the pressure off of your joints and help ease pain.
When you’ve been eating wheat all of your life, the thought of eliminating it from your diet can be scary. If going wheat-free is difficult for you, take small steps. Start off by cutting your intake by half. After you do this for a while, continue to reduce the amount of wheat you eat. Before you know it, you’ll be wheat-free and on the path to better health.
Want to get healthy, but don’t know where to begin? The Diet Solution Program can get you on the right path and keep you there. Our recipes are all friendly to a wheat-free diet, too.
